Great. Just great.

Fred drops out, and that's when his poll numbers start to climb.

I wonder if the jump had anything to do with last night's GOP Florida love fest "debate." (Transcript here.) The only REALLY important matter discussed was whether Sly Stallone, who's apparently backing Romney, could beat the snot out of Huckabee supporter Chuck Norris.

I was half expecting the candidates to all break into song -- Kumbaya, of course, followed by I love you, you love me -- with a fat, ugly, and exceedingly irritating pseudo-dinasaur appearing from the wings to join the five in a group hug.

Halfway through I knew exactly who I'd be voting for on Tuesday. Although he's dropped out of the race, Fred's still on the ballot. A protest vote? Yes!!!

Then with McCain and Huckabee still yammering away and the possibility that one of them just might win the party's nomination if I threw my vote away like that, I came to my senses. Still, the thought was nice and it made me happy even for the short time it lasted.

On the home front, my phone's ringing off the hook with candidates (or their surrogates) all calling to tell me how great they are. And daily, my mailbox is filled with their crap.

The only call of real note came this morning. A supposed 45-second survey that lasted quite a while longer because after answering the first three questions honestly, I recognized the nature of the robo-bot (a very UGLY push-poll by a nutziod group called Common Sense Issues that's supporting Huckabee and now calling Florida's voters) because of news reports about the calls made in states where the primaries (or caucuses) have already occured.

Starting with the fourth question in my most pleasant tone I began answering, "Fuck you."

I don't know how many other questions there might have been because the poor bot never got beyond the fourth. It kept saying that the only answer it could recognize was either Yes or No, and all I kept saying back was "Fuck you."

Damned thing finally called it quits and just hung up on me.